LA Woodshop Woodworking Workshop: Spoon Carving Weekends

LA Woodshop runs its one-day Spoon Carving Workshop on Saturdays or Sundays from 9am to 4pm, with a one-hour lunch break, for $300, and no prior experience is needed. The shop is at 1535 Paloma Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021, in a 7,000 square foot workshop and creative space in downtown. If you are looking for a woodworking workshop in Los Angeles where the teachers are working woodworkers, this is the one to look at first, since the shop is a collective of woodworking educators and professionals.

Spoon carving is the gentlest start. You turn a block of wood into a spoon and learn carving techniques, how to use gouges and curved knives safely, and how to sand and finish. The Keepsake Box: Bandsaw Basics class is $375 and includes materials and tool use. Instructor Ellie Richards leads you through sawing a solid block into pieces, removing the center, gluing it back into a box and decorating it with colors and textures.

The Intro to Tool Sharpening class is $350 and is taught by Cam Velazquez. It covers tool setup, grinding, honing and evaluating edges, using whetstones, motorized wheels such as a bench grinder and Tormek, and adhesive sandpaper. You are invited to bring one chisel and one hand plane, plus any honing guides and stones you own. It is a good second class once you own tools that need a proper edge.

The Make 'n Take shelf has more than carving. The class list names Picture Frames, a Lathe Turning bowl class, Bow Making, Intro to Routing with a magnetic knife rack as the project, and a Plant Stand class. The shop says that in just one to two days you learn the skills to make something you will be proud to show off at home. Each listing carries its own date and price, so open the class calendar and sort by length to see what is scheduled.

Longer commitments sit under Pro Projects: Practical Cabinet Making, the Table Class and an Independent Study Membership for people who want to follow their own design under supervision. Those are weeks or months in the making. If you are new, the shop's own advice is to use the filter on the class page, tell it what you want to make and let the team point you to the right class.

The Post-and-Rung Woven Stool is a two-day workshop for $499, Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm. Ellie Richards guides you through post and rung joinery, tapering legs and supports, glue-up, sanding and finishing, then you weave the top of the stool with a sturdy cord. It has no prerequisites, and the shop describes the result as heirloom quality.

For something bigger there is the Adirondack Chair, an intermediate furniture-making class held on Wednesday evenings for five weeks at $599. You prepare a cut list, lay out parts on milled stock, rough-cut on the band saw, set up router templates and finish for outdoor life. It requires completion of the Intro to Woodworking course or extensive prior experience. The longer Pro Projects include Practical Cabinet Making and a Table Class.

If group classes do not fit your schedule, the private version of Intro to Woodworking takes around four hours and costs $500 for one student or $650 for two, with all materials and tool use included. The curriculum is fixed, so it is the full intro course delivered one to one. You can bring a friend for an extra $150 using the add-on at checkout. If you want to build a specific project instead, the shop asks you to contact it to discuss a custom plan.

Full-time bench rental is $1000 a month and includes 24/7 access to the shop, a dedicated bench, tool and lumber storage and reasonable consumables such as sandpaper, rags and dominos. It requires a 6-month minimum, extensive prior experience and a small footprint with no consistently large build-outs like kitchens or sets. Right now the shop says all benches are full, and there is a waitlist form.

The shop also offers CNC and laser engraving for people who bring their own lumber, and it hosts corporate team-building workshops. The founders are Eric Clem, Marty Johnson and Nathan Stefanelli, independent business owners who bonded over the Los Angeles woodworking community. They bring over 50 years of combined knowledge in architectural woodworking, furniture making, business and teaching, and their stated goal is making entry to woodworking feel less daunting.

Shop visits are by appointment only, so use the contact form on lawoodshop.com before stopping by. The site lists no phone number and no public opening hours, which is why booking a class is the simplest way through the door. Weekend classes start at 9am, and the shop says on the spoon carving page that arriving on time is part of the challenge, so plan your drive and parking before a Saturday morning.

The blocks around Paloma Street are industrial and commercial rather than a stroll-and-snack neighborhood, so treat the class day as self-contained. The one-hour lunch break in the 9am to 4pm classes is the moment to find food nearby, and bringing a lunch is the easy answer. Bring closed-toe shoes for the machines and old clothes for the dust. Skip the sharpening class if you do not own a chisel or plane, since it is built around tools you bring.

The judgment call: pick spoon carving at $300 for the cheapest full day with hand tools, choose the Keepsake Box at $375 if you want to use a band saw, and book the private Intro to Woodworking at $500 only if scheduling matters more than price. The stool at $499 gives two full days and a finished piece to take home, which is the best value of the weekend options.